Tag Archives: Housing

The Fold folds: Hundreds of tenants given six months to leave

EXCLUSIVE: Croydon faces another housing crisis as poor build quality on four blocks built alongside the Town Hall is forcing the owners to carry out extensive works. By STEVEN DOWNES Residents living in Croydon’s fourth-tallest building, 35-storey The Fold, on … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Housing, Mayor of London, Property, Queens Gardens, Taberner House | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Reshuffle puts Streatham MP on the spot over council funding

Steve Reed will probably feel more at home at MHCLG, but is the former leader of Lambeth Council, who as an MP was a bystander over ‘slum-like’ conditions at Regina Road and the bankrupting of Croydon, up to the job … Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Commissioners, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Housing, Jo Negrini, Lambeth Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Regina Road Residents' Support Group, South Norwood, Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Council slammed for ‘neglect’ and ‘disregard’ on social housing

Labour-controlled Lambeth is in trouble yet again over housing standards in the borough, with the council criticised in an independent report that, according to opposition councillors, “shows a pattern of neglect, incompetence and a complete disregard for the wellbeing of… … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Lambeth Council, London-wide issues, Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

London Mayor Khan is 12,000 homes short of his own target

According to figures from City Hall, just 347 new affordable homes have been started in London in three months since April. Inside Housing reports the figures from the Greater London Authority which also show that 312 of the homes were … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How chief Nimby Philp built in Tories’ own Purley backyard

BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, on what is undoubtedly, even by Croydon’s low standards, the most egregious example of ‘do as we say, not as we do’ from our politicians Croydon residents living south of the Flyover, whether they are in … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Chris Clark, Chris Philp MP, Croydon South, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Property, Purley | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Complaints against Perry’s council on rise, Ombudsman says

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on another year where our council is close to the top of a league table – for most upheld complaints Katherine Kerswell, Croydon’s £204,000 per year chief executive, if she bothered … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult Social Care, Bromley Council, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Housing, Katherine Kerswell, Lambeth Council, Planning, Southwark Council, Surrey, Sutton Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Building on precious green spaces won’t fix the housing crisis

CROYDON COMMENTARY: With mounting pressure on local authorities to allow the building on Green Belt land, PETER UNDERWOOD raises concerns that private profit is being put before people The combination of unreliable politicians and profit-hungry developers is putting our green … Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Croydon parks, Environment, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Peter Underwood, Planning, Sadiq Khan, Selsdon Residents' Association, Selsdon Vale and Forestdale, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Plans submitted for 288 homes on Norbury sports ground

Housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES, looks at a planning application for a £75m scheme that the developers hoped you might never notice What do you mean, you had no idea that there have been plans submitted for a massive development of … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Environment, Housing, Lambeth Council, London-wide issues, Merton, Nicola Townsend, Norbury, Norbury Park, Planning, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

We’ll all be paying for ‘Thatcher’s Hangover’ for years to come

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council does not have enough homes to house the homeless. But the Labour government created a ‘gold-rush’ torrent of applications for Right to Buy that may have forced the transfer into private ownership of every council … Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Housing, London-wide issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Families left waiting seven months for repairs to damaged flats

While Croydon Council pays a private developer £20million to buy a residential block in Broad Green, in the middle of a housing crisis it is failing to maintain its existing housing stock. A council-owned block in Upper Norwood has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Claire Bonham, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Housing, Lynne Hale, Mayor Jason Perry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Care leavers given short notice of council’s work scheme

A two-month paid internship scheme in Croydon’s housing contact centre sounds great, but applications are online only and all the borough’s public libraries – with free internet access – are closed until after Christmas Who would want to work in … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Libraries, Youth Services | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Housing disrepair – free workshop, South Norwood, Dec 5

Posted in Community associations, Housing, Socco Cheta Community Hub, South Norwood Community Kitchen, South West London Law Centres | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Andrew Fisher Interview: how to tackle the housing crisis

“Imagine if everyone owned the home they live in.” No, not John Lennon, but the country’s only housing correspondent working for a national newspaper, on her thoughts of how, at a stroke, to do something to resolve the housing crisis … Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Fisher, Housing, Inside Croydon, The Andrew Fisher Interview, Under The Flyover | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Council-owned housing agency priced out by private landlords

London’s soaring private rents have seen the number of properties offered to boroughs by a specialist agency fall by 90% since 2022, according to a report today from The Municipal Journal. The agency, Capital Letters, claims it is being priced … Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Housing, London-wide issues | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Ombudsman report shows council getting worse under Perry

Croydon Council was forced to pay out TEN TIMES more in compensation to its tenants last year under Tory Mayor Jason Perry than it had done in the previous 12-month period. That’s the astonishing findings of the official, annual report … Continue reading →

Posted in Claire Bonham, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Complacent council managers miss important housing event

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The head of an independent panel appointed to check on progress with housing following the Regina Road scandal suggests senior managers in Fisher’s Folly are not doing enough to get the borough out of special measures. EXCLUSIVE … Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Housing, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Regina Road Residents' Support Group, Susmita Sen | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Councillor accuses Perry of broken pledge on affordable homes

Mayor Jason Perry’s council has been accused of yet another broken promise, and of wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax-payers’ money, this time after rejecting a planning application for seven affordable homes in Upper Norwood, in a scheme … Continue reading →

Posted in Claire Bonham, Community associations, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Environment, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Nicola Townsend, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Ombudsman orders council to pay tenant £5,000 compensation

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Croydon Council is among 20 landlords handed severe ‘maladministration sanctions’ yesterday by the Housing Ombudsman for failing to deal with severe damp and mould in tenants’ homes. By STEVEN DOWNES Croydon Council has been ordered to pay … Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Housing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

L&G ‘deeply concerned’ by state of high-rise flats at The Fold

Insurance and pensions giant Legal and General has admitted that there are serious problems with damp and mould, leaking roofs and sewage issues in The Fold, the 35-storey residential tower close to the Croydon Flyover, built on council-owned land, where … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Housing, Mayor of London, Property, Queens Gardens, Taberner House | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Planning battle over The Lawns after council official’s threats

Five years’ work has been wasted after Croydon Council planners rejected a planning application from a community group in Upper Norwood to build seven not-for-profit flats in a scheme instigated by… Croydon Council. BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, reports An enterprising … Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Environment, Heather Cheesbrough, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Nicola Townsend, Planning, Tom Copley | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Another Croydon scandal: the £3k per month high-rise slums

Activist exposes serious issues with town centre ‘luxury apartments’ which were only built three years ago The housing crisis takes on a whole new meaning when you are a private tenant, living in a building completed just three years ago … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Esther Sutton, Fairfield, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Property, Queens Gardens, Ria Patel, Sadiq Khan, Taberner House | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Croydon Housing meeting for the Waddon Estate, Aug 29

Posted in Croydon Council, Housing, Susmita Sen, Waddon | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Solution to housing crisis is clear – but who will implement it?

What is wrong with the country’s social housing is obvious. Whether any politicians have the will to fix it seems unlikely, as highlighted by a new book from a young, south London activist. Review by STEVEN DOWNES When a kid … Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Gavin Barwell, Housing, London-wide issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bromley green lights John Lewis’s 24-storey housing scheme

Bromley’s Conservative-controlled council has granted planning permission to John Lewis for the “Waitrose Tower” which, at 24 storeys, is much taller than any development given the green light in any Croydon district centre. The £500million project will take until 2029 … Continue reading →

Posted in Bromley Council, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Outside Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Croydon housing policy is reminiscent of Dickensian England

CROYDON COMMENTARY: A council briefing document shows that officials and the Mayor are playing fast and loose with their legal obligations on provision for the homeless, says KEN TOWL Croydon Council is playing fast and loose with their obligations on … Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Housing, Ken Towl | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments